Plurality Voting

Also known as First Past the Post

ChinosoN avatar
Written by ChinosoN
Updated over a week ago

Plurality voting, or first-past-the-post, is a voting system that selects the winning candidate based on which candidate has the most votes. It is a simple and familiar system to many voters.

How the Results are Calculated

Multiple Candidates for 1 Vacancy

The candidate, or options, with the highest percentage of votes among the counted ballots, is declared the winner. For votes with 2 or more candidates, winning a majority of the total ballots is not required to win. For example, in a 3-person content, a candidate with only 40% of the total ballots, would still be declared the winner if the other two candidates received 25% and 35% of the total ballots.

Multiple Candidates for 2 or more Vacancies

When running a multi-seat vote the candidate with the highest percentage will win the first seat, the second-highest percentage wins the second seat, and so on, until all seats are filled.

Yes/No Situation

ElectionBuddy can be used for passing a bylaw amendment, approving a slate, and acclamation of a single candidate for an executive position. The choice with the most votes at the end of the votes wins. If you're just doing a referendum with two choices, this will naturally be the choice with the majority (i.e. the choice with greater than 50% of the votes).

Plurality Voting is used for a wide variety of voting situations including:

See voting systems and calculating winners to read about other voting and tally methods.

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